THE commemoration was heartfelt, the nostalgia moving, the gratitude profound.

Britain may have been in lockdown, but that did not stop the country from paying tribute to the generation that overcame Nazi tyranny. Throughout all the events yesterday, there was a sense of the tremendous debt we owe to those heroes who turned our darkest hour into our finest. The Prime Minister was right when he declared, "We are free because of everything they did."

In the summer of 1940, when most of Europe had been conquered by the fearsome German war machine, the chances of victory looked slim.

But through a vast national effort, galvanised by the undaunted leadership of Winston Churchill, the years of struggle ended in glory.

The outpouring of euphoria on VE Day was fully deserved. As Churchill put it when he addressed the huge crowd in Whitehall, "this is your victory," adding that "everyone, men and women, has done their best".

Veterans yesterday recalled the scenes of jubilation at the end of the European war. One ex-soldier remembered how he and his comrades had "drunk the mess dry" on VE Day, while Joan Hall, who served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, said that she "had never seen so many happy people in my life. All the pubs were full of singing and in the streets everybody was dancing".

But amid such joyous memories, yesterday was also a time for reflection at the sacrifices made during conflict. That solemnity was given added poignancy by the pandemic, whose death toll already exceeds that of the Blitz.

The red arrows fly over Westminster to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day (Image: DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP via Getty Images)

There was a two-minute silence at 11am for the fallen, while wreaths were laid at war memorials across the land, including one outside Balmoral by Prince Charles and Camilla.

Heartstrings were also pulled by the sight of a Red Arrows flypast over Buckingham Palace. Yet from mid-afternoon, the mood of contemplation gave way to celebration, epitomised by Dame Joan Collins - whose childhood home was destroyed in the Blitz - leading the nation's toast to the 1945 generation from the balcony of her central London apartment.

Even with social distancing in place, the spirit of 1945 was exuberantly recaptured in street parties and singalongs.

In Cambrian Road, Chester, residents dressed up in 1945 clothing for a retro gathering. In my own village of Westgate-on-Sea in East Kent, a neighbourhood tea party featured a magnificent cake in the form of a Winston Churchill sculpture on a Union Jack base, while music from the 1940s were played over a loudspeaker. Indeed, as I write, the voice of Dame Vera Lynn is wafting through the window of my study.

In all its glorious features, from the uplifting sight of bunting everywhere to the flight of the Red Arrows over London, the 75th anniversary of VE Day was a joyous demonstration of national pride. At this troubled moment, the British flag served as an uplifting symbol of unity.

There is a fashionable tendency within the cultural elite to sneer at patriotism. To self-loathing intellectuals, it is seen as a force for shame and xenophobia. But the VE Day anniversary exposed this nonsense.

Far from promoting hostility, patriotism is a noble force that encourages self-sacrifice for the greater good. It is an instrument for solidarity, reinforcing our mutual bonds. The determination to save Britain from Hitler was the same impulse that wanted to create the National Health Service.

The commemorations were a potent reminder of what it means to be British. The heroism of the wartime generation still resonates, which is why Vera Lynn's We'll Meet Again has captured the imagination so powerfully. Her lyrics were a unique source of comfort more than seven decades ago and, in the midst of isolation, they remain so today. Our nation pulled through a grim ordeal in the 1940s, and we can do so again.